2019 REPORT YWCA Glendale€¦ · 2019 REPORT . YWCA Glendale . Named after Rosie the Riveter, Camp Rosie is a 2-week summer day camp for 7th-9th grade girls where they explore what

2019 REPORT YWCA Glendale

Named after Rosie the Riveter, Camp Rosie is a 2-week summer day camp for 7th-9th grade girls where they explore what the world has to offer them by learning trades and skills not often taught to young girls. In this girl-centered space, campers have an opportunity to express their potential while building friendships and making connections with female entrepreneurs and role models. CAMP ROSIE AS TEEN DATING VIOLENCE PREVENTION Camp Rosie serves as YWCA Glendale’s primary prevention initiative. Primary prevention approaches strive to combat knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors associated with risk factors of teen dating violence and aim to promote knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that support protective factors and healthy relationships. Primary prevention strategies promoting change in knowledge focus on providing information and raising awareness; strategies focusing on changes in attitudes provide information on personal impact; and strategies aimed at changing beliefs and behaviors focus on showing and practicing new skills. Risk factors for teen dating violence include low self-esteem, having few friends and/or a small support system, emotional dependence and insecurity, lack of emotions management, belief in strict gender roles, lack of connection to their community, and perceived weak community sanctions against violence. Camp Rosie addresses each of the risk factors through the following activities:

• Leadership development through hands-on exposure to STEM and trades activities • Opportunities for team-building and friendship-building with icebreakers, games and discussion • Connecting with community members and leaders working in professions of interest • Workshops that explore healthy relationship-building and bystander intervention • Opportunities to hear from women leaders who challenge and defy strict gender roles • Exploration of stress management, self-love and having healthy conflict • Discussion of available resources for survivors of violence and what they can do to stand up

against acts of violence CAMP ROSIE AS GIRLS EMPOWERMENT In addition to preventing teen dating violence, Camp Rosie works to empower girls and challenge traditional gender role norms and stereotypes. Young women and young women’s leadership has always been at the core of YWCA’s work—the story of YWCA is a story of intergenerational, multicultural women galvanizing for change. Girls are our future, and giving them the tools they need to lead us into a more just and equitable world is foundational to our values—but it is important to see girls and young women not just as future leaders, but as people who are already leading in their varied ways, in different

communities, meeting all kinds of needs right now. How we support and give space and resources to girls and young women now, impacts all of our futures. And young women, who often experience wage disparity, gender-based violence, unequal access to education at, are uniquely able to speak from their own experience, create solutions that work today, and enact change. YWCA Glendale is working against the social and structural barriers girls face to help them explore new roles and Camp Rosie provides them with activities to help them discover their authentic selves and build confidence and courage, opportunities to speak with strong women leaders and community members, exposure to non-traditional skill-building and education, and encourages them to express themselves. By the end of Camp Rosie, 100% of our campers believe that girls should have the same freedom as boys, that girls and boys should be equally smart and do well in school, and that in dating relationships, girls and boys should have equal power. They also believe in greater equality in family dynamics including that men/fathers should not have greater authority than women/mothers and that household chores should be a shared responsibility. CAMP ROSIE 2019 ACTIVITIES During Camp Rosie 2019, campers participated in the following activities and more:

• Performing Arts with Glendale Arts • Safe Dates Healthy Relationship

curricula • Yoga • Self-Defense Training with Harmony

Aikido • Tour of Glendale Police Department and

Forensics Lab • Scavenger Hunt of USC and discussion

about being college-bound • Trip to California Science Center • Self-Defense Training

• Hiking, Nature Hunt, Wilderness Games, and Eco Crafts at Deukmejian Wilderness Park

• Stress Management Workshop • Tour and Use of Makerspace at

Glendale Downtown Central Library • Workshop on Self-Love • Bike Maintenance • Team Building • Comedy Sketch Writing with Grl Pwr

Sketch

CAMP ROSIE 2019 PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS YWCA Glendale would like to thank the organizations and individual donors who helped make Camp Rosie 2019 a success by providing activities, workshops, and information for our campers and for allowing us to offer it at no cost to girls through their financial support:

• Soroptimist International of Glendale • Glendale Arts • University of Southern California

• California Science Center • Grl Pwr Sketch • Harmony Aikido

• Glendale Commission on the Status of Women

• Institute for Girls’ Development • Women’s Center for Creative Work • Junior Achievement of Southern

California • Peace Love Plants • The Oakmont League • Kaiser Permanente • Las Candelas

• Kiwanis Glendale • National Charity League • La Crescenta Women’s Club • L’Aureole of Glendale • Sharon Weisman • EA Nelson • Pauline Callahan • Kilter

CAMP ROSIE 2019 PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS This year Camp Rosie was able to provide three 2-week sessions, expanding our number of campers from 33 in 2018 to 51 in 2019. 38% of our campers were 12 years of age, 19% were 13 years of age, 19% were 14 years of age while 16% were under age 12 and 8% were over age 14. 43% of our campers live in Glendale, 16% in Pasadena, 14% in Los Angeles and 21% from surrounding areas in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys and the Verdugos. A few came from locations outside the Los Angeles area. 37% of campers identify as Hispanic/Latina, 8% as White, 6% as African American, 4% as Asian, 2% as Pacific Islander, 2% as Native American and 20% as other, including multi-racial, Middle Eastern or Armenian. 57% of campers and their families found out about Camp Rosie from a friend or family member while 14% found out about us online, primarily through Facebook. Others heard about us through our partnering community organizations and schools or from one of our events or flyers. 20% were returning campers from last year while the others got to experience the fun and excitement of Camp Rosie for the first time. 18 of our campers were about to enter the 7th grade, 20 entering the 8th grade and 10 entering the 9th grade with a few younger and older campers, often attending with their sisters CAMP ROSIE 2019 OUTCOMES An important part of Camp Rosie is our Safe Dates curriculum. Safe Dates is designed to prevent the initiation of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in adolescent dating relationships. Safe Dates helps teens recognize the difference between caring, supportive relationships and controlling, manipulative, or abusive dating relationships. We conducted surveys with campers both before and after attending Camp Rosie to assess the participants’ knowledge of teen dating violence. These pre- and post-camp surveys found: • Before Camp Rosie, less than 75% of girls could name 3 examples of emotional dating abuse such

as yelling, name calling and insults, being possessive or controlling, and shaming or blaming. After attending Camp Rosie, 95% could, a 30% increase.

• About two-thirds of participants could give 3 examples of physical dating abuse before attending

Camp Rosie while afterward, 95% could give examples such as hitting, kicking, pinching and slapping, a 42% increase.

• Somewhat surprisingly, only about ¼ of campers thought that it was not true that sometimes a

person’s response to anger is uncontrollable. After participating in Camp Rosie, nearly 50% recognized that this was not true, a 73% increase, but something we need to work on changing in the future.

• Importantly, before attending Camp Rosie, less than 60% of girls could name even one thing they

could do to protect themselves from sexual assault on a date. Afterwards, 90% could identify 2 ways to protect themselves such as staying in public places, looking for red flags, and fighting back.

• All but one of our campers learned that both victims and abusers involved in teen dating violence

needed to get help and 60% were able to clearly identify resources available to victims of abuse, including YWCA Glendale.

• 100% of attendees learned that it is not OK to engage in physical violence and that no one deserves

to be abused except for one respondent who believed it was OK to hit someone if they hit you first.

Most participants also understood that there could be negative consequences to engaging in dating violence such as being arrested (77%), the relationship ending (87%), and bad things in general (85%).

We also saw: • A 29.5% increase in understanding that emotional abuse can be just as serious as physical abuse • A 39.4% increase in understanding that any forced sexual activity is sexual assault, even kissing. • A 36.8% increase in understanding that abuse may be used to control the way a person thinks, acts,

or feels. • A 29.8% increase in understanding that abuse does not go away over time if you ignore it. • An 89.9% increase in understanding that conflict will occur in all relationships. • An 83.1% increase in understanding that date and acquaintance rape victims are most often

teenagers.

Of the 5 participants who indicated they had been on a date before, none reported any physical abuse but 2 reported experiencing some type of emotional abuse including their date being controlling or possessive and blaming or shaming them.

PHOTOGRAPHS